The Mayor by Keidrick Goss

Mayor Roger Van Horn makes his living off of his full time dentist practice in Nacogdoches, but thoroughly enjoys serving the city of Nacogdoches as mayor.
Roger Van Horn was born and raised in Tulsa, OK and ended up in Nacogdoches on a whim. He arrived in Nacogdoches in the 1970’s and began his dentist practice. In May 2007 he was elected mayor and is now in his third term.
There are two types of city governments: strong manager commissioner government and strong mayor commissioner government. Nacogdoches has strong manager commissioner government. So the mayor does not operate the city from day to day. “The mayor is the chairman of the city commission,” said Van Horn.
Being the mayor is not a paying job, but Van Horn loves to do it. “The reason I decided to be Mayor is sort of a culmination of my life in Nacogdoches and my city work,” said Van Horn, while holding his glasses in one hand and using the other hand to gesture. “It’s just what I like to serve, it’s a gift I have been given I suspect.”
Even though Mayor Van Horn is now in his third term, things were not always great for him as mayor. For one thing he did not know what he was doing coming into the mayor position. “I had potential when I ran the first time but I didn’t know how to be mayor, and I’m getting better at it all and all,” he said.
Another thing that has hindered his experience is his frustration with some of the things that go on in the city. He said that the income stays the same so they have to raise sales taxes. They get one penny from sales taxes and 50 cent per $100 of evaluation. In dealing with these frustrations he has learned to put aside his own views. “I had to learn to set aside my personal philosophy for the city,” he said. “Being mayor is not about Roger Van Horn, it’s about the process, it’s about our city, it’s based on the facts.”
Even though he loves being mayor, he makes his living off of being a dentist. He said that he works three or four hours a day as mayor and all day Friday, and for the rest of the time he’s doing dentist work. He decided to do dentistry very randomly in his college years and it has followed him to today. There was a moment when he didn’t like it, he said. But he realized that it wasn’t the occupation it was the dentist.
When asked what he would do after he was done being mayor, he said, “I don’t know the answer to that, but I will doing something. Finding some way to serve.”